Blessing Of Artemis
by JirwolfX
Summary: Running from his death and ending up jumping right back into it. His story should have ended there but the fates had other plans. Earning an unlikely blessing from and unlikely Patron. Becoming the first male champion of Artemis in centuries is only the start as his unique heritage throw him into the forefront of the recovering demigod world.
1. Chapter 1

A teenage boy sprinted through the trees, zigzagging wildly. Fear was etched onto his features, this couldn't be happening. However, large thorn like spikes imbedded into the tree just next to his head proving otherwise. He glanced back and saw a human face lined with shark like teeth, seemingly attached to a lion's body and what appeared to be a scorpion tail charging behind him. It crashed into tree slowing the creature enough to give him a chance. However, the backwards glance proved to be his undoing, he lost his footing slightly and stumbled, losing his momentum and the next volley of spikes whipped past his head gashing his face and slamming into his shoulder. The force shook his whole body and he staggered barely maintaining his balance. Pain shot through his system, but he ignored it.

He broke out into a clearing and had barely gotten halfway across when the beast smashed through the tree line behind him. The creature, which his panic-stricken mind had now identified as a manticore, something that if he had not been running for his life would have seemed intensely cool, smiled and raised its tail to strike. At that moment silver arrows flew from the tree line in front of him he threw himself to the ground but one of the arrows caught him in the leg and another sliced past his face leaving a deep gash across his cheek. The manticore crumpled behind him and he lay there panting, the pain finally him and he muffled his shout in the grass. A group of teenage girls stepped from the tree line. They were dressed in silver coats, camo pants and combat boots, each carrying a silver bow they emanated a silver aura that caused them to glow softly in the darkening light.

Suddenly the manticore reared up again launching another volley towards a younger, red haired girl who was at the lead of the group. Without thought he threw himself up and forwards unable to get far enough to push her down he simply managed to leap in front of her. Pain erupted in his back and side as he fell twisting mid air he saw one of the spikes heading for the girls stomach and out of pure instinct he reached out and managed to grab at it, wrenching it out the air. The girls wasted no time in bombarding the beast with arrows until it disappeared in a cloud of dust. With one last glance at the girls, the world darkened.

A girl with short black hair sprinted to the boy's side while the other recoiled and held back. The red haired girl looked down puzzled at the boy. Meanwhile the black haired girl was pulling out medical supplies from her pack and attempting to stem the bleeding from the boy. At that moment there was the sound of a bow string being pulled taught.

"Move aside Thalia and allow this male to be put out of his miserable existence." A girl with dark hair and skin stood behind her bow raised, one eye gleamed silver the other was a milky white. Thalia made no such move and continued to work on the boy she carefully began to pull the thorn like objects from his back and shoulder. "Thalia!" the girl cried out again in exasperation "He isn't worth our time can we please move on." Thalia reached into her pack and pulled out some small golden squares and a flask of golden liquid.

"You cannot give this boy ambrosia." The red haired girl spoke up, power radiated off her in waves causing the girls to wince slightly.

"M'lady, meaning no disrespect, but I refuse to allow someone to die simply because he is a man. Especially after he threw himself in front of another person without question." Her voice shook with fear and determination.

"Thalia don't be tiresome, our lady has spoken leave him and lets move on." The second girl spoke again.

"Do not presume." The girl knelt down next to Thalia who sat there stunned. "This boy is mortal, he cannot consume the food of the gods."

"Lady Artemis he was being chased alone by a manticore, I thought he must have been the child of one of the more powerful gods." Thalia asked confusion etched into her face. Artemis kept working stitching up the gashes across the boy's body with silver thread with the utmost precision.

"Set up camp here hunters, this will take several hours to attempt to heal and he should not be moved." Thalia stepped back, shock flew across the faces of all the hunters but they did not question their mistress. Soon silvery tents and campfires spread across the clearing and hunting dogs stood guard around the campsite. Still the goddess worked her hands flew across the boy's body finally she stepped back a grimace clearly present. Thalia stepped up next to her goddess, fear in her eyes.

"I'm sorry my child, there is nothing more that can be done." Artemis spoke softly Thalia lowered her head in sorrow, when suddenly she gasped as three elderly women appeared before them, a silver thread stretched between them. The middle woman laid an old bony finger on a point towards the start and dragged it along the thread. Her eye widening the goddess stood there in shock for a few seconds before regaining her composure. She gestured Thalia to move back, which she did nearly colliding with the rest of the hunters who had gathered in a loose arc behind their leader. Suddenly the moonlight brightened in the clearing and the boy began to glow, silver light encased him. When it faded a silver crescent moon crossed with a bow lingered above his heart. The elderly women looked satisfied, vanishing as quickly as they arrived. Her strength failing slightly Artemis sagged slightly before drawing herself back to her full height.

Wordlessly Artemis picked up the boy and carried him to her tent and walked inside. Exclamation of horror and shock echoed the camp.

"A boy in lady Artemis' tent? What is going on?!" A girl exclaimed. Thalia stepped forward

"We all saw the fates, clearly this goes beyond the hunt, I'm sure Lady Artemis has her reasons."

He came too staring straight into the starry sky, or so he thought after a few moments later the realisation struck him that it was in fact some form of fabric. Attempting to move pain shot through his body and with a sound between a grunt and a growl he fell back onto the ground, which led to more pain. He felt as if fire was burning every part of him.

After a few minutes a rustle somewhere caused him to attempt to look around again, leading to a similar result. Artemis looked down upon him with a mix between sympathy and sternness.

"You appear to have recovered enough." she quirked pulling a small golden cube from a pouch on her waist and carefully breaking it into pieces before slowly feeding it to him. Immediately he felt better, warmth spread through him and the pain faded slightly. "Tell me boy, what do you know of the greek gods?"

"Quite a bit," he burst out eagerly, wincing slightly before continuing "I know that was a manticore and you're a hunter of Artemis. What's going on how can this be real?" he slowly pushed himself up, so as to better view his surroundings seeing a large amount of hunting equipment and maps strewn around the tent before returning his gaze to the girl beside him. "Why did you save me? Not that I'm not grateful, but don't you hate, you know…"

"Men?" She supplied "This will make things much easier, As far as being a hunter of Artemis." She smiled and grew older her hair becoming longer and darker. He scrabbled painfully to attempting something between a bow and an escape, failing both miserably earning what he assumed was a smile. "The sentiment is appreciated my child. You shall be my champion from now on." His mind immediately flashed to the tale of Orion, but he thought better than to bring it up, an angry goddess was never something he needed. As though in response she laughed, "Tact, a trait rarely found in men, your will begin training tomorrow." His eyes widened and before he could stop himself,

"I, uhh, have a few more questions?" he cursed himself internally but luckily it only earned him a laugh.

Sliding back down he groaned, this could not end well.

Outside the tent a small crowd of hunters had congregated. They bowed as Artemis emerged from the tent.

"M'lady what is this boy still doing among us, why did you bless him, what is going on?" The dark haired girl from before spoke quickly, as though rushing the words out before she could think better of it.

"The choice was not mine my child, the fates had spoken. You would do well to remember who it is who leads this hunt." The hunters looked to each other in shock but none dared to question their mistress. Thalia stepped forward, "Permission to train him m'lady." Earning her a nod from the goddess.

He woke to the sound of clattering and barking outside the tent, rising slowly he realised the majority of the pain was gone he saw fresh clothes and a leaf shaped silver short sword. The clothing consisted of the outfit he had seen the hunters wearing before. Dressing quickly, he stepping out the tent sword in hand to be met by a girl with short black hair.

"Ah you're finally awake. I'm Thalia, I'm gonna be training you today." She smiled and punched his bad shoulder causing him to flinch away from her. She laughed

"Get used to that little bro." his brain gave up trying to understand and he resigned himself to his fate.

"Eh, I always wanted an older sister, I'll be able to stop them next time?" Earning himself another affectionately painful punch followed her through the camp to an empty section of the clearing.

"That's the plan, what's you name scarface?"

"Oh gods." He muttered something inaudible. Thalia raised her eyebrows "Achilles." He sighed, pushing his curly hair out of his eyes and gripped the sword tightly.

"You sure you're not a demi god?" She laughed drawing a sword of her own and launched a volley of strikes, which he retreated back from, trying to not lose his sword to the powerful strikes.

"I think that's a compliment." He muttered under his breath as he swung back to meet her blade in the middle. He was clearly completely out matched. Every offensive strike he attempted was batted away and earned him a powerful hit with the flat of Thalia's blade. Undeterred he fought on until he was bruised and exhausted. Thalia knocked his sword flying and struck forward with the pommel of her sword but he managed to twist sideways dodging the strike before reaching for her sword arm earning himself another hit with the sword.

"You run away well. Luckily you didn't spend the whole time doing that or this would have been pointless." Thalia said, "You have excellent reflexes but you actual sword skills are abysmal. A few hours of this and maybe you'll have some basic talent. I'll be handling your training for the most part. Chill with me, most of the rest are a lot older and more resentful to the general male population than me, it'll be nice to have someone who understands what the internet is around for once."

After a few hours spent being battered about they switched to archery, he was much better at this hitting the targets until he had finally earned a break. Staggering over to Thalia who was sat eating some form of stew near one of the campfires. She handed him a bowl and he dug in starved and aching.

"You want to tell me how a mortal can see through the mist and ended up in being chased by a damn manticore through a forest?" she asked after he had wolfed down the food. He scratched at the bumps his face that he assumed was the scarring from his escapade.

"I've always been able to see the monsters if that's what you mean, nearly got sent to therapy for it a few times, learned to ignore it. I dunno I've never had trouble with them noticing me before. But I was on a camping trip with a few friends and it turned up and attacked. Calling them demigods. They uh…" his voice cracked. Thalia pulled him into a one armed hug before quickly letting him go again.

"How unlucky do you get to have demigods for friends? Luckily most you meet from now on will be more prepared, it won't happen again." He laughed quietly pushing tears from his eyes.

"Where do I go? I know better than to ask to stay here, and I don't want to lose anyone else to these monsters." Thalia patted his shoulder.

"There's a place for people like us lil bro, it was my home before I joined the hunt, they'll look after you."

* * *

 **Authors Note:**

 **Thanks for making it to the end of the first chapter. This is a quick note to let you know what kind of story I want this to be, so you know if you want to keep reading. Firstly, this is not a primarily romance fanfic, it will however have about the same amount of focus as the original books on relationships so it won't be completely void of romance if that's your jam. Secondly, this is not a mary-sue fanfic, the main character Achilles wont exactly be weak but he will be about as strong as the 7 if not a bit weaker and he certainly wont be as strong as Percy. I like to think I will be able to write better than just having my main character smash his way out of every problem. The tone will be as close to the originals as I can get it, more the HOO books as most character will be in their late teens. Again thanks for reading so far, next chapters nearly ready and looking forward to the feedback. If there's any spelling/grammar issues please let me know, its an issue with me and I appreciate any help. I'll probably rewrite large portions of this as well, no stories ever perfect! So bare with me.**

 **Jirwolf Out**


	2. Chapter 2

*Crack*

Achilles hit the ground, hard. Rolling to a crouch he launched himself back at Thalia. Hunting knifes in each hand he locked his right blade with her left one and swung the remaining knife towards her thigh. At the last second she shifted her weight and he fell forwards forcing him to roll again coming up and spinning around to face her he was met by her first and he toppled backwards again his knives spinning away. Thalia charged him and he flipped up onto his feet, something he saw the other hunters do all the time. Mistiming it slightly he stumbled forward and had to quickly avoid the knife in Thalia left hand. Lunging to his right he collided with her knocking her down, she rolled back with the blow kicking out as she did. Thick combat boots connected with his jaw and the world span. When it righted again he was staring at the sky and an outstretched hand. Grabbing it and pulling himself up he glared at Thalia.

"Did you need to kick me in the face?" he complained rubbing his throbbing jaw.

"I'll aim a lot lower next time." She said, a playful grin stretching across her face. "At least you've got archery on lock, maybe they'll mistake you for the worst hunter, someday." He frowned but was cut off by the sound of a hunting horn from the main tent. "That's my que." she said grinning from beside him. They fell into the loose semicircle surrounding the entrance of the main tent and Thalia walked out to stand by Artemis.

"We'll be arriving at camp half-blood tomorrow, and as per tradition we will have to take part in the capture the flag game. I hope you will keep our undefeated streak alive." Thalia spoke sternly but her silver eyes twinkled. The collected hunters grinned at each other and after a seconds pause Thalia continued. "As I'm sure you're aware we're heading to the camp to drop off a rather surprising addition to our number and while I will do my best to explain the current situation to Chiron as soon as possible. It is likely that he will be unable to fully explain the situation until after said match. As it is I believe it will be easier to hide the existence of Achilles until after, so we'll get a disguise but you must make sure that you do not treat him as an outsider so as to avoid suspicion." Various degrees of affirmation did not fill him with confidence but hopefully he could avoid being beaten up to badly. The hunters began to disperse to pack up camp again so they could get on the move again.

Artemis took Achilles and Thalia off to the side.

"I believe it is customary to give gifts to a champion" A silver light flash and a moon charm appeared around his neck, reaching up to touch it the necklace dissolved into light and appeared on his arm much larger forming a curved shield. A grin lit up his face and he looked up at her with gratitude. The traces of a smile on her face she signalled for them to leave.

"Dude," Thalia said, 'makes my present seem much worse." She threw a black and silver nirvana band shirt at him, "it's enchanted." she grinned nervously "should survive a bit more that a regular shirt anyw-" she was cut off as he gave a brief hug.

"Thanks sis." his voice shook ever so slightly. They hugged again and went their separate ways to pack for traveling.

Achilles stood on the edge of the camp some of the dogs wandered about near him chewing up the remains of their breakfast. Dressed in silvery combat boots, sporting a hunting knife attached to the right one. Tactically ripped jeans and a silver parker almost covered the black shirt he'd gotten from Thalia. The hood had been pulled up and cast an unnatural shadow around his face, hiding him from sight. A silver shoulder bag hung from one side and his bow and quiver from the other. His sword attached to his left hip.

"Pretty good," Thalia shouted smirking from behind him, "But you should hold yourself more like you have a deep seeded hatred of all things." His grin and laugh lost under the hood; he merely gave her a thumbs up.

The tents had all been collapsed and the hunting party moves quickly through the trees, at first Achilles had had a lot of trouble keeping up with the hunters but as time went on he began to feel more equal to them. Eventually they reached a crested a small hill upon which a large pine tree stood gold appeared to be woven into its branches but as they got closer he realised it was some kind of golden material and a long snake like creature. Most of the hunters turned to Thalia mirth obvious on their faces. She sighed and turned to Achilles,

"Remember when I told you about being a tree," she could see or hear him laughing but from the shaking she made an educated guess, a swift punch to the gut put an end to it however. Groaning on the floor he forced himself up and caught back up with her as the hunters made their way towards a large congregation of teenagers stood behind what appeared to be. Achilles did a double take, a centaur? Despite his encounter with the Manticore being more than enough to convince him of the existence of monsters it had still been the only monster he'd really seen up until this point.

At a closer glance he realised all the teenagers appeared to be dressed for battle, full Greek battle armour. Two of them stood at the forefront next to the Centaur and Thalia rushed forward.

"Annabeth, " she cried hugging the girl tightly, turning to the guy she punched him hard in the arm, "Wassup water boy!" Laughing he hugged her,

"Not much pinecone head. Hope you're not intending to keep that winning streak, not with me and Annabeth around."

The meanwhile the Centaur and Artemis appeared to have a hushed quick conversation and then a conch horn sounded in the distance and the hunters and campers started to move towards to woods down past the cabins. Splitting back off into hunters and campers Thalia quickly ran through a plan but he didn't really take any of it on board. They moved out and Thalia waved him over and he quickly jogged over.

"You ready?" he nodded "Just follow my lead." They set off zigzagging through the trees when Thalia motioned violently for him to back off. He moved to cover as she entered a clearing with a medium sized river running through it. Stood in the water the guy from earlier, Percy, waited his stance casual and sword loosely in one hand. Thalia extended her spear and slowly moved towards him/

"Been awhile since we've fought Jackson. Hope you're ready to get your ass beat." He laughed

"Took down your brother no problem, and he can fly." In an instant all hell seemed to break lose. Thalia shouted and thrust her spear into the air and the sky darkened, lightning crashed down from above only to be met with water as Percy threw his arms out and water rushed upwards from the lake forming an arch above him. A loud crack from the lightning reverberated and faded into a hiss and the water evaporated. Thalia charged Percy jabbing with her spear; he parried and swung only to be blocked by the handle. Achilles moved slightly to get a better view and as he did a beam of moonlight hit him. Moving on pure instinct he drew his sword spinning around and slammed the pommel into something hard. A figure flew a few feet out into the clearing and landed hard on the ground. Completely stunned by what happened they all froze. A baseball cap landed softly next to the figure and for that moment nobody moved. Achilles rushed forward to attempt to help whomever he had hit, still unaware how he had hit so hard. In hindsight moving towards someone lying injured on the floor with a large sword was not the most friendly of moves. Percy roared in anger and started forwards, with his first step the ground shook and the water began to slash angrily around him, Thalia moved to stop him in a panic trying to make sense of things and was blasted backwards off her feet by a large torrent of water. Percy never even looked at her but she slammed into a tree and slid down. Achilles saw red, he shouted in turn voice muffled by his hood and forgetting all about his shield ran forward into the clearing. Water spiralled and slashed around Percy as it appeared the whole lake and risen up with him. But as Achilles moved into the moonlight he felt his strength surge. They swung and the silver sword clashed with the bronze. Water stuck at Achilles with Percy attacking everywhere at once but the moonlight collected around him solidifying and blocking the water. The swords clash and parried and despite the moonlight keeping the water under control and him fighting better than he ever had in his life Achilles found himself being unable to find any offensive opportunity on Percy. He swung his sword forward with all his strength and Percy retaliated swinging his sword across his body. They met in the centre and Achilles felt his sword splinter under his hand. The silver sword shattered and an explosion of light caused them both to stumble. Achilles blinking to attempt to regain his sight felt something slam into his side, lifting him off his feet and sending him flying through the air landing in the riverbed. The attacks from the water seemed to triple as Percy bore down upon him, moving around Achilles and attacking from every direction. Finally activating his shield he began to try and block some of the blows from the water but he could barely see at all. The water starting to block out the moonlight he felt his energy run dry. He yelled out in defiance slashing a wide arc upwards through the water and a blast of silver energy exploded downwards and slammed outwards sending water everywhere and Percy staggering. He fell to his knees in the riverbed. Percy found his footing again before stopping dead in shock. The blast had shredded his jacket and torn up his trousers even more, only Thalia's shirt remained intact. The magical hood had been torn to shreds revealing a large silver white streak in his hair.

Percy surprise only fed his anger and he thundered forward water still swirling around him, he grabbed Achilles by the throat and lifted him off the ground.

"Who are you, what are you doing pretending to be a hunter!" Percy roared, voice gave the impression of crashing waves, eyes as wild as a hurricane. Achilles only yelled in response, wildly swinging at Percy, he made contact and he dropped to the floor. Staggering back Percy found his feet again and began to stride back towards Achilles when, THUD, his path was blocked by an arrow shaft.

Outside the forest Artemis and Chiron were in hushed conversation when a loud clap of thunder and a bright flash interrupted them. Looking up Chiron smiled tired as the water from the river slowly dried up. "I can only hope they end the game before they blast too big of crater in the forest." He turned back to Artemis who was frowning. "Is everything alright Lady Artemis?" Her silver eyes stared into the forest in the direction of the lightning.

"Something is wrong." She began striding off along the river bank and Chiron hurried to her side. He dare not question the Goddess but he was worried by the expression on her face after a minute of hurried walking a bright light illuminated the entire woods forcing him to avert his eyes, immediately Artemis broke into a run and after a second Chiron began to gallop after her. As he reached the clearing he saw Artemis striding towards Thalia and Percy staggering back from another boy in half destroyed hunter's clothes. Knocking an arrow, he launched it into the ground in front of Percy to try and stop him.

All eyes turned to Chiron who attempted to explain and was promptly interrupted by the sound of Achilles collapsing into the dirt as his legs gave out.

* * *

 **Author's Note: I have been through and done some fine tuning to the first two chapters after losing chapter 3 and 4 to a computer malfunction. Ah well, these things happen but I've lost a certain amount of motivation to rewrite those two chapter. Don't worry they're on the way.**

 **Jirwolf Out**


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